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£1 million bonanza at Mercedes-Benz World

Historics is celebrating a second successive £1+ million sale, having packed its one-off winter venue at Mercedes-Benz World to the rafters, with bidders eager to experience the excitement of the classic car auction scene’s most eclectic offering.

The Brooklands based auctioneer dropped the hammer on 61 of 102 vehicles, with custom cars, commercial classics and more familiar classic offerings amongst those seen away, for a final sale rate of 60%.

Boosted by pre-sale publicity, Saturday’s top seller was a 1965 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage, number 52 of 1567 built and one of just 268 right hand drive models, with a number of bidders taking the final sale price beyond the estimate (£120,000 - £140,000) to £155,000.

Also achieving over its estimate was a 1970 Alfa Romeo GTAm Evocazione, one of three Alfa Romeo’s sold, with the fastidious attention to detail in the build reflected in a robust hammer price of £27,500.

Other evocative Italian classics to feature were a 1954 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT and a 1938 Lancia Aprilia which achieved £56,000 and £21,500 respectively.

No stranger to selling truly individual vehicles, having previously presented a Batmobile, Ghostbuster car and Monkeemobile at auction, Historics’ first sale of 2012 saw ‘The Bugaloos Buggy’ and Snake Pit by George Barris, and Bunk Beds by Bob Reisner, fetch £12,000, £15,500 and £9,250 respectively, while an original Hanns Trippel designed Amphicar sailed to £18,250.

An immaculate 1965 Ford Thames 400E Van sold for £7,500, while growth in classic commercial vehicle ownership was further fuelled by a 1936 Leyland Beaver Petrol Tanker selling for £13,000.

The raft of regular auction goers was swelled by intrigued visitors to Mercedes-Benz World, and fans of the German marque were well catered for as no fewer than 15 examples were put up for sale. Of the 11 sold, two restoration projects fetched £3,700 and £3,500 while a 1993 600SEL, previously owned by the Dubai royal family, sped to £11,200.

Historics’ first sale of 2012 also saw half of the 700 strong Martin Webb Collection of Alfa Romeo models auctioned off, with 47 of 50 grouped Lots finding a new home, contributing to an 80% sale of automobilia Lots that added £15,910 to the overall auction figures.

Commenting after the conclusion of the company’s eighth sale, Historics Auction Director, Edward Bridger-Stille remarked; “Our thanks must go to Mercedes-Benz World who allowed us to use their fabulous venue to showcase yet another fascinating array of motor vehicles”.

“Our desire to create a truly inclusive auction experience was again reflected in the staggering number of people in attendance on Saturday, and a £1+ million sale is testament to our continued commitment to bring a real breadth of cars to market”, he concluded.

Historics returns to the Brooklands Museum for its Spring sale on Saturday 26th May, and for more information on consigning cars and automobilia to the sale, visit historics.co.uk.